International cell phone

I have a tech / lifestyle question. Does anyone have a prepaid plan with international (the Americas and Europe, mainly) coverage that they like?

I have an older internet capable, Nokia, tri-band, GSM phone

Doesn't AT&T have international plans now?

They do, and they're terrible. Terrible in the sense of being stupidly expensive. If you're in the position to drop a couple hundred bucks a month, and don't use much data, then AT&T has an international roaming plan for you.

I know lil_tuffy tried using one of these when he dropped in on Berlin last, and it didn't work out the way he'd hoped. Perhaps he'll offer the direct perspective on that.

I've had a decent time with popping local prepaid SIM cards into an unlocked phone. Your number changes every time you do this, natch, so you're a moving target for people who want to reach you. The upside is you can find local prepaid SIMs for around 10 cents a minute & per text most places in Europe. Getting a pre-paid card with a good dataplan is trickier.

Specific deals:

You might also look at getting a phone from 3. They seem to have good coverage throughout Europe, and they route all calls through Skype when possible - skype to skype calls free.

I went to the UK with my Blackberry and added world coverage through Verizon.. It worked great.. it connects to local networks no matter where you are.. You need a world phone to have world service though.. out there I was on the 02 network mostly.. the charger came with adapters to plug into UK and European outlets which also worked great

Get local simcards, its still the cheapest option.
I work at The Phone House in the netherlands, and we sell prepaid (pay-as-you-go) simcards aimed at making international phone calls. I bet other countries have similar solutions as well

Thanks for all the great leads, and tips for things I hadn't considered.

If the recharge rate (money paid at intervals to keep the card active) was low enough, I'd subscribe to a local NL sim card, and make it back to Europe as soon as I could to try to use up all the accumulated credit.

I got the last SIM card at a little shop on the Nieuwendijk, actually, a LycaMobile. I tried going online to put some more money on my tab so that I could keep that same number, but I think I waited too long (18 months or so).